Lecture 1 - Strategic Management Flashcards
What is strategic management?
Strategic management is an ONGOING PROCESS that evaluates and evolves a firm’s direction by:
- Assessing competitive environment and setting goals
- Determining and choosing between strategic choices
- Regularly re-assessing implementation
- Evaluating changing/newly emerging circumstances
How is strategic management different from other business disciplines?
Strategic management looks at the business AS A WHOLE as opposed to only looking at certain parts of the organization such as Marketing, Finance, etc.
What types of big picture questions does strategic management look at?
- What are the best industries to be in? (And how do you compete in the ones that are bad?)
- What determines the total corporate performance of an entire business enterprise?
- Why do some businesses succeed and some fail?
- What can general managers actually do about it?
Why does strategic management matter to you?
- Learn how to think like a leader (strategic mind)
- Job search advantage
What are the 3 core questions that strategy considers?
- Where do we compete?
- How do we compete?
- How to we execute on it?
What are the 5 elements of the Diamond-E Framework?
- Management Preferences
- Resources & Capabilities
- Organization
- Strategy
- Environment
What are the 10 steps of the Strategic Analysis Process?
- Issue(s) Identification
- Analysis - External
- Analysis - Internal: Components of Strategy
- Analysis - Internal: Diamond-E (FIT)
- Financial Analysis
- Competitor Analysis
- Strategic Choices (Options)
- Recommendation
- Implementation Plan
- Risk and Contingency Plan
Describe 4 different types of external analysis frameworks/tools that should be used.
- Porter’s 5 Forces: Is this a profitable industry to be in?
- Industry Value System: Who is gaining value in the industry?
- PEST: What is going on in the industry?
- Key Success Factors: What do firms need to do to “win” in this industry?
What are the 4 components of strategy?
- Goals
- Core Activities
- Product Market Focus
- Value Proposition
What is the main question we want to answer when conducting a competitor analysis?
Do they have the ability to take away our competitive advantage?
Describe step 7 of the strategic analysis process: Strategic Choices (Options)
- The options should be VIABLE and DISTINCT
- Assess the pros and cons thinking through all aspects (strategic, financial, etc.)
Describe step 8 of the strategic analysis process: Recommendation
- Choose one of the options developed in step 7
- Explain why this is the best choice
- Discuss how the cons will be managed
Describe step 9 of the strategic analysis process: Implementation Plan
- Who will do what?
- What is the timeline for implementation?
- How will the other areas of the firm be affected?
Describe step 10 of the strategic analysis process: Risks and Contingency Plan
- What are the risks, how will you minimize them?
- What if it doesn’t work? Plan B?
